Morocco and Mauritania sign a historic electricity interconnection agreement

In search of energy independence, Morocco and Mauritania will cooperate on energy matters. This project is part of the Royal Atlantic Initiative promoted by the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, whose aim is African integration and South-South cooperation. 

In a further step towards the consolidation of relations between Mauritania and Morocco, the director general of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE), Tarik Hamane, and the director general of the Mauritanian Electricity Company (SOMELEC), Sidi Salem Mohaned Elabd, in the presence of the Moroccan ambassador to Mauritania, Hamid Chabar, met in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, to sign an agreement for the development and implementation of the electrical interconnection. 

The development of the Morocco-Mauritania electricity interconnection plan is a historic step forward that will further strengthen the reliability of the electricity grids of both states, will mean an improvement in performance and will favour the exchange of energy between Morocco, Mauritania, Europe and West Africa within the framework of the West African Power Pool (WAPP), whose main objective is to ensure a secure energy supply to member countries. 

This union of power lines will favour the creation of a secure energy network in the region, a project that was proposed in 1999 but did not begin until 2006 after the 29th Summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and in which more than 14 countries on the Atlantic coast of the continent are involved, producing more than 14,000 million kilowatt hours. Curiously, all the countries involved are part of the new gas pipeline that will link Morocco with Nigeria. 

‘The project will mark a step that will reflect a new reality in the Mauritanian electricity system, it will open up promising horizons between the two countries and improve their ability to communicate with European and African markets,’ Tarik Hamane told the Maghreb Press Agency. ‘The project will improve capacities and create a market between the two countries,’ he added.

For Mauritania, these agreements represent a historic step forward, as it is the ECOWAS country with the most expensive energy prices. The energy partnership with Morocco will therefore mean a drastic reduction in energy costs and, consequently, a better quality of life for the citizens of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Furthermore, this plan will make it easier to achieve the objective of producing half of the country's energy through renewable energies by 2030. 

Through this initiative, both administrations hope that the energy sector will generate significant economic opportunities in the region in terms of both development and employment. For the Moroccan government, this plan, together with an investment of more than 27 billion dirhams over the next five years, will work towards the integration of the two electricity grids and improve the experience and exchange between the two countries.